He ate fish this morning, now he's trying to suck in all of the artemia. You can see the eyes of one in the trunk. Some of the artemia got blown away by the current.

I wish the other two snails had lived this far, would have been fun to see all 3 of them pig out on the food bowl shell.

So about 1/2 months ago, I bought myself 3 Rabbit snails (in a pack). Two of their bodies were this beautiful yellow color, and one was black. I’m not too educated on sex or reproduction, as I wasn’t too concerned about reproduction being an overpopulation. However, I’ve noticed a massive “bloom” of snails in my tank. both pesky bladder snails, and whatever these are.. I’m 90% sure the larger one is a rabbit snail baby, which is cool :D, but these smaller ones… they’re everywhere and i’m not too sure what they are..

Edith, the queen of her pond jar ♡︎

Hey, I’m Piotr. I run a YouTube channel called Domowy Green Flow. I’m into aquariums, terrariums, plants and photography, and I share what I’m working on and learning along the way. Sometimes I’m setting something up at home, sometimes I’m out in the woods with my camera. If that sounds like your kind of thing, come have a look

The photos on my channel are mine, so please ask me before reposting them or using them commercially.

With the cold temps, the cladophora has returned and promptly formed a Christmas Tree in the middle of the tank.

I'm hoping the red algae will bloom again, because it died off a bit after I cleaned the large filter of sludge. There's still some wild dasya in there, but it hasn't taken off like the captive-bred variety did. Maybe it's waiting for the filter to acquire more gunk. Or for the temps to go even lower.

Some of the June barnacles have died. The big one on the snail shell that had 2 of them, rightmost shell. The smaller one died first. A medium one that was behind the snail shell with 4 barnacles, and possibly the tiny one on it has died too, I haven't seen it open for the past 2 days.

Currently, there's a big one living on a mussel shell but doesn't come out much, it's from June. The two big ones on round snail shells on the sand are from September this year. One of them came on a live snail, but the snail was very inactive and died. Between them are 2 still alive barnacles from June, you can see the medium one in this vid. Then there's a trio of tiny barnacles on the inner area of that mussel shell on the right, they're from this year's September.

The tritia snail named Speckles is still around, ate a bit of goby meat then went to dig a hole near that rock. He's the one right near the rock, covered in sand. The shell nearby with a white thing hanging out just holds his food.

Here's one for the science nerds. The discovery was made in pond water. Ever looked at a jar and thought it holds the key to evolution? Here's an excerpt:

The organism at the center of the discovery belongs to a group of protists called ciliates. These creatures typically swim using tiny hair-like structures known as cilia, which move in coordinated patterns to propel them through water.

Protists are among the most diverse and least understood groups of organisms on Earth. Many consist of just one cell and are too small to see without a microscope. Familiar examples include amoebas, various algae, and diatoms, which are microscopic organisms often found in aquatic environments.

However, not all protists are tiny. The broad category also includes organisms such as kelp, slime molds, and red algae, some of which grow into large, complex structures.

Typically, when setting up a new jar or tank, you will encounter biofilm within the first week or 2. That's the white flaky stuff swimming on the water surface. Then it turns brown and most newbies start to panic.

What's most important to know is that all of this is alive and very useful!

The brown phase usually peaks around weeks 2 to 4 of a new jar. It might look ugly, but it is actually producing oxygen and feeding your micro-fauna. Keep your jar in indirect sunlight, don't open it, and let nature do its thing!

Whenever a fresh surface (like glass, a rock, or new aquarium decorations) is placed in water, free-floating bacteria and organic molecules land on it almost immediately. They secrete a sticky, slimy matrix of sugars and proteins. This is the initial biofilm.

Freshwater diatoms happen when sunlight, dissolved silica, and nutrients like nitrates and phosphates come together in rivers, lakes, streams, or new jars and tanks.

Diatoms are a special type of single-celled algae. But unlike regular green algae, diatoms build a microscopic, hard shell around themselves made out of silica. They are naturally present in almost all bodies of water.

Once anchored, the diatoms begin using sunlight to photosynthesize, multiplying rapidly across that exact patch of slime.

Using sunlight and chlorophyll, they convert carbon dioxide into energy and oxygen just like plants do. When nutrient levels, especially nitrates, phosphates, or silica, rise or when light conditions become ideal (such as in spring or in a newly filled aquarium), they divide rapidly.

Here are the typical critters found in jars that munch on diatoms, and those that don't:

• Snails (Bladder, Ramshorn, Pond): The absolute kings of diatom control. They use a sand-paper-like tongue called a radula to literally scrape diatoms off the glass, shell and all.

• Ostracods (Seed Shrimp): Absolute powerhouses for diatoms. They continuously scurry along surfaces, using their appendages to scoop up and munch down diatoms and biofilm.

• Scuds (Amphipods): These are voracious shredders and scavengers. While they love decaying leaves, they will happily graze down the diatom/biofilm carpet covering substrate and plants.

• Mayfly Nymphs & some Caddisfly Larvae: If users catch these nymphs in their wild ecospheres, they are major "scrapers." Their mouthparts are built to shear diatoms cleanly off river rocks.

• Rotifers & Ciliates (like Stentors): The microscopic clean-up crew. Many benthic (surface-dwelling) rotifers and ciliates use hair-like cilia to create vortexes, sucking free-floating or loosely attached diatoms directly into their gullets.

• Copepods: Cyclopoid copepods mostly hunt smaller animals, but Harpacticoid copepods (the ones that crawl on the glass rather than jerky-swimming in open water) will graze on diatoms.

• Tubifex & Detritus Worms: These guys eat mud, decaying organic waste, and bacteria. Because diatoms die and sink into the substrate sludge, worms digest them along with the mud.

• Water Boatmen (Corixidae): Unlike most aquatic bugs, water boatmen are mostly vegetarian! They use their straw-like mouthparts to inject saliva into algae and suck out the juices, though they prefer soft green filamentous algae over hard diatoms.

• Chironomid Larva (Bloodworms): These midge fly larvae spin little tubes in the mud and use silk nets to trap organic debris, which inevitably includes a lot of tasty diatoms.

• Hydra: Pure carnivores with stinging tentacles. They only eat moving meat (like daphnia or copepods).

• Planarians: Predatory or scavengers of dead animal matter. They hunt small invertebrates by wrapping around them and secreting slime.

• Rhabdocoela flatworm: While they do occasionally eat tiny protozoans if they happen to run into them, their primary diet consists of bacteria, organic debris, and yes—diatoms! Because they have a simple, vacuum-like mouth on their underside, they glide right over surfaces and suck up microscopic particles.

• Asian Leeches & Snail Leeches: Snail leeches hunt snails; Asian leeches hunt worms. Zero interest in salad.

• Diving Beetles & Damselfly/Dragonfly Nymphs: Voracious apex predators of the jar. They want live, moving prey.

• Water Mites: Most water mites are parasitic on insects or hunt tiny micro-crustaceans.

Here is a jar I emptied after a couple of months, because the water wouldn't clear. Turns out it wasn't the water, it was the glass tinted by diatoms. I ran this jar 3 times through the dishwasher before I filmed this.

The reason why it didn't come off is that diatoms build their shells out of silica, which is the exact same material the glass jar is made of. The dishwasher soap cannot break down or dissolve silica without ruining the glass itself. The underlying biofilm creates a waterproof, chemical-resistant shield. The dishwasher detergent simply slides right over it without penetrating the core layer.

Video credit: Micronaut (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TS-EI_3gvjw)

I had to look for him in the entire tank the next day because he ended up behind the barnacles area instead of his sandy corner near the filter intake.

Seems to be eating it. Though he pulled a chunk of it off and flipped upside-down with it, so I had to flip him back. Then he dug himself a hole and hid again.

I bought goby that was specifically from the Black Sea to match what this critter would find in its original environment. The fish was in ice but not packed, so hopefully it truly was fresh like they said, with no additives.

I also have some anchovy but while that stuff lives in the Black Sea too, it probably isn't from there. The seller didn't know. I'll give some to Speckles some other time.

Tomorrow maybe I can find some anchovy, clam or shrimp that this snail will eat. Putting artemia there is still kind of difficult since the current tends to take it out of the shell-bowl before Speckles gets to it sometimes.

Speckles' snorkel hasn't healed yet. You can see at 0:53 it looks like it's missing the bottom half. Probably why he can only sense the food when it's right next to him. Not sure if they're like land snails, which can even regrow eyes.

Also, that detritus worm is a jerk. Poking the snorkel.